Many industries dealing with the production and processing of liquids require capabilities for sampling those liquids for various purposes. Commonly, samples of the liquids will be taken for examination and analysis pursuant to a quality assurance program. Most liquid manufacturers and processors require such sampling to assure uniformity of the end product. Many consumer products serve as examples of liquids that are sampled for testing purposes. This is particularly true with liquid items that are to be consumed by the public. Not only are the manufacturers and processors concerned with the quality of the product from a commercial standpoint, but in many instances they must also comply with certain regulations pertaining to the quality of the product. An example of such users of sampling techniques are processors of liquid dairy products. In the instance of milk, there are multiple opportunities during the several processing stages between the animal source and the grocers' shelves during which the milk may become contaminated or spoiled and unfit for human consumption. In many cases, the first instance of test sampling will be shortly after the cow has been milked. In this way the specimen can be identified with the particular animal in the event that anomalies are detected when the sample is analyzed.
Other industries obtain and process particular liquid samples from many different sources. One such industry includes testing laboratories that analyze bodily fluids for detecting conditions present in a person's or animal's body. An example associated with the medical field is the collection of urine for the purpose of detecting certain qualities of the urine that are indicative of physical conditions of the donor. In one instance, the urine may be tested to determine whether or not a patient is diabetic. Similarly, blood samples may be drawn from a patient to ascertain other conditions.
In a similar industry, bodily fluid samples are taken for determining the presence of foreign substances such as alcohol and drugs. This is becoming an important industry both from a law enforcement perspective, as well as that of employers who have testing policies. Because of the extreme consequences associated with the results of these tests, it is of paramount importance that they be accurate and remain uninfluenced by outside factors.
In each instance described above in which a liquid sample is taken for analysis purposes, it is important that the specimen does not become contaminated either after it is initially taken and before it is first accessed for testing purposes. It is also important that the specimen not be contaminated after being accessed for initial testing since further testing of the specimen may be required based upon the results of the prior test(s). This requirement may necessitate special handling of the samples, but at a minimum requires that the container within which the specimen is carried be sufficiently closed after the specimen is test sampled to prevent the introduction of contamination.
It is likewise important that the container be free of contamination prior to the sample being dispensed into the container. To assure the purity of the sample carried in the container, it is a common practice for the container to be closed before the sample is introduced and then reclosed immediately after the sample has been dispensed therein. After the specimen has been placed within the container and the container has been closed, the specimen may be transported to the location at which it is to be analyzed.
Often times, only a small portion of the specimen will be required for analysis and the balance of the sample must be disposed of properly. The container itself can be recycled. In many instances, the sample to be analyzed may be withdrawn in a fashion that permits the container to remain substantially closed so that it retains the balance of the liquid specimen carried therein.
In the event that the sample containers or bottles retain portions of a liquid sample that must be appropriately discarded, special treatments may be required because of the nature of both the container and the conditions of the liquids themselves. Oftentimes, the specimens may be toxic or otherwise contaminated, or potentially contaminated so that neutralization is required before ultimate disposal.
The containers themselves may be manufactured from a variety of materials, but in most cases will be produced from plastic if that material is suitable for the containment of the liquid specimens to be analyzed. Because of the containers' plastic construction, it is possible that the bodies of the containers may be further processed to either reduce their volume for disposal purposes or otherwise processed for subsequent use; one such use would be as source material for the manufacture of other plastic items through recycle.
In some situations, not all of the containers will contain liquid, but there is the potential that at least some will still contain liquid after their primary use as specimen containers. Still further, it is possible that some of the containers may be sufficiently open so that liquid freely escapes therefrom and is commingled with and about the other containers when stored together before being further processed. In these cases, the present invention strives to provide means by which the escaping liquid may be drained from about the containers prior to further processing. If desired, a rinse may also be applied to the containers that is drained together with the escaping portions of the specimens.
The present invention provides an apparatus having the ability to drain remaining liquid specimen held within the containers and separate the liquid from the solid components of the containers. In this manner, each may be appropriately treated for subsequent but separate processing. In the process of separating the contained liquid specimen from the sample bottle, the body of the bottle is normally pulverized into smaller pieces of plastic particulate. During the separation and particlization processes, the draining liquid must be collected and drained from the unit. Therefore, the present invention provides a liquid collector associated with the pulverizing unit.
In some circumstances, the particulate remains "dirty" with traces of the specimen adhering to the individual pieces after fragmentation and may require additional cleansing, even if only by a water rinse. Therefore, the present invention provides one or more rinses in association with the draining process.
In many situations, the liquid specimen will itself include offensive or infectious components that have contaminated the container so that the sample bottle must be disinfected before certain other processes may be applied thereto. For these reasons, the present invention not only separates the liquid specimen from the container or sample bottle, but also provides a means for disinfecting the containers after the liquid has been removed therefrom.
In many instances, the specimen held within the container may have other noxious qualities that can result in the release of offensive gases upon the opening and processing of the closed container. Therefore, this invention provides a capability for evacuating and exhausting any such released or produced noxious gas. From the exhaust vacuum, the gases may be ported to the environment if their condition is suitable for direct release, or they may be additionally treated if so required prior to release.
In order to more completely cleanse the particulate, additional rinsing means may be optionally incorporated into the system of the present invention downstream from the pulverizing process and configured so that the rinsing fluid may be drained from the particulate before it is deposited into a collection bin where it is held for further processing or disposal.
Heretofore, no system has been available for adequately processing used sample bottles of the nature described above in a manner similar to the present invention. Several apparatus and methods are known for reducing the size of certain containers and other instruments that are most often associated with the medical field. Those known means and apparatus, however, do not contemplate the processing and separation of containers from the liquid specimens they hold, particularly when the volume of liquid specimen is appreciable.
An example of an apparatus for crushing small containers is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,508 issued to Griffith et al. Therein, a pair of cooperating crusher rolls rupture vials containing a scintillation liquid and permit the same to be expelled therefrom. The Griffith apparatus, however, does not particulate the bodies of the containers for purposes of further processing. Another example of a waste treatment system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,756 issued to Pearson. Therein, infectious waste is shredded and then disinfected in a bath. The disinfected solid waste is then separated out of the bath. The inclusion of appreciable volumes of liquid specimen with the solid waste is not, however, contemplated.
In view of the advantageous features described hereinabove as desirable in a particulating apparatus, and heretofore unavailable, the new particulator described herein has been invented.